Crush
by BitterRenegade
Summary: Zero's babysitting Gaige, and she learns that he's been listening to her ECHOcasts. Slight Zaige.


_Author's Note: I think I successfully got people hooked on Zaige. MWAHAHAHHAHAAHA. Pretty sure I named the pairing too :3 Or at least was the first one to use it on fanfiction. So proud of myself and because of that I have a oneshot for ya'll. Just something short and sweet._

_I think Zero and Gaige would have a sort of weird relationship at first. I mean Gaige is still pretty much a teenager so her hormones are all derp and Zero seems like he'd have a bit of a messed up sense of humor mixed in with actual feels to me. He's an assassin, after all. _

~*~  
Crush  
~*~

Once I'd heard the shower start running, I knew it was safe for me to leave. Zero'd been stuck babysitting me all day, which pretty much kept me from doing anything fun.

I couldn't understand why I'd been practically placed under house arrest anyways. All I'd done was fight bandits head on and gotten just the teensiest bit injured. Axton was pissed off, since I'd been told to stay back with Maya. Krieg was the one that usually ran into all the action, and I was just so bored! But for some reason, Axton had practically adopted me as his surrogate daughter (But he would never be my dad. I already had a dad, and he was the best). So I guess being babysat was his way of punishing me. Salvador couldn't help but make fun of me for it, being an 18-year-old woman and being babysat or grounded or whatever. Maya didn't help either, she didn't want me joining them on their newest mission because I might get in the way…

And Zero wouldn't let me do_ anything_.

But after I'd spent about an hour shooting him with eggs with a shotgun that I'd modified to shoot eggs, he'd gone to take a shower.

This was my chance to escape.

Feeling a little bit guilty about leaving without letting him know where I was, I dug around for some paper and a pencil, quickly jotting down a few words.

-Zero, going to Moxxi's.

-Axton, Maya, Salvador, Krieg, I'm going to Moxxi's to gamble.

And maybe drink. Peace out guys!

Placing the note on the table, I smiled to myself as I walked towards the front door. Now they'd know where to find me if they came back, and while they wouldn't be too fond of me gambling and drinking-

I stopped, realizing that I could no longer hear the shower running. Paling, I turned around to see Zero with my note in hand, and even with his mask on I could tell he wasn't pleased with me.

"Too young." He stated dryly "No alcohol, no gambling."

I pouted.

"No." Zero repeated, tearing up my note "Work on Deathtrap."

"Not fair." I whined, sulking past him and back to my room, "What are you, my Mom?!"

Zero followed me like a shadow, making me keep my door open (likely to make sure I wouldn't sneak out) before he went into the kitchen to do who knows what. He returned later with a mug of hot cocoa in his hand, holding it out for me to take. Huffing, I crossed my arms and turned away from him.

"I don't need hot cocoa." I grumbled "I am a woman of science and ass-kickery. Not children's beverages."

Zero groaned loudly in frustration "Stop acting childish.  
Just take the damn beverage.  
I made it for you."

My eyes widened. He just made a haiku pretty much telling me to grow up. Shaking off my surprise, I accepted the drink "…Thanks." I muttered, taking a sip and smiling at the lovely taste of chocolate goodness before stubbornly placing a scowl on my face "…Why are you still here?" I grumbled at him, moving over to give him some room.

"Axton considers taking care of you a challenge." The ninja replied simply, taking a seat next to me on my bed.

I scowled "I don't need you guys to take care of me."

"Too young and inexperienced." Zero replied easily "You also have very little patience."

"Hey-!"

"You spent an hour shooting me with eggs."

Realizing his point, I laughed awkwardly "Remind me to get more… We're all out."

Zero nodded, and I continued to drink my hot cocoa.

"How'd you even know that I… um…" I trailed off, not wanting to admit that I loved hot cocoa after calling it a children's drink. A large red question mark appeared briefly on Zero's mask before he realized why I stopped myself.

"Echo casts."

My jaw dropped "No way. You listen to my echo casts?!"

"…"

"You're one of my subscribers, aren't you?" I laughed "I didn't think that adults listened to echo casts… I thought it was just a… you know…"

A teenager thing.

"…Wow that's creepy that you listened to my echo casts. And remembered that I liked hot cocoa. You're really weird, Zero." I realized, inching a little bit farther away from him.

Zero scoffed "Gaige, mechromancer.  
I'm not that much older than you.  
I am not creepy."

Counting the syllables in my head, I grinned at him cheekily "…You got the syllables wrong."

"**!"**

"So I'm going to guess that either you're lying about you not being that much older than me, or you're telling the truth and my adorableness is distracting you."

"…"

"I bet you have a crush on me." I told him with a wink "That's probably the real reason you're the one always volunteering to babysit me."

"…"

Feeling awkward now, I looked away from him "W-well, thanks for the hot cocoa." I stuttered "It was nice of you even though you've been creeping on me through my ECHO cast for god knows how long-"

"I was not creeping you." He told me seriously "I was simply trying to cheer my crush up."

Nearly falling over in shock, I spilt the hot beverage onto my lap.

"**JK" **Appeared on Zero's mask as I jumped up in pain, grabbing a nearby shirt to clean the hot cocoa off of me.

Glaring at him, I stormed out of my room and heading towards the bathroom to finish cleaning up. Locking the door, I barely heard Zero's voice from outside.

"_That was not revenge,  
For the eggs. I worry for  
You. I'm sorry."_

Opening the door just a tad, I glanced up at him "…If you try and take revenge for the egg thing, I will never forgive you."

**":)"**

"And once I'm done cleaning all this hot cocoa off my skirt, we're going to do... something."


End file.
